Disperse yellow 54 (DY54) was adsorbed onto two biopolymers, alginic acid and xanthan. The adsorption isotherms for the biopolymer-DY54 system showed that the adsorption mechanism can best be described by Zimm-Bragg theory. UV-Visible, FT-IR and MicroRaman studies suggest that DY54 is bounded to both biopolymers alginic acid and xanthan through hydrogen bonding. Keto group of dye and hydroxyl groups of sugar residues from two polysaccharides were the principal functional groups involved in sorption mechanism.